WHAT? No, no way. I love when work is slow and I have time to relax.

You may be thinking this, but if you look down deep at when you are the happiest at work it’s probably when you are most productive. I love attending outside events because it gets me out of the office. I meet the people that are already customers or potentially new contacts. There is just something special about face to face meetings that email, telephone, and video conferencing can’t replace. I also feel like I’m making a difference at my job. I know that if I’m talking the good talk that people will come in and use our services.

At the end of the day I’m more tired, but I feel more satisfied. I can also feel this way when working on a report. The day just seems to fly by and I look up and it’s time to go home. I’m usually relaxed and feel a sense of accomplishment.

I read a great article from Doug Kline. He wrote a guest post called Employees Want More Work? (Not Less?) at the Performance and Talent Management blog.

My favorite part was…

Employees who are bored (reporting “too little work”) are often doing work for which they are ill-suited, or have jobs that are poorly designed. As a result, they have by far lower job satisfaction, sense of accomplishment, and pride in their employers compared to all other workers. All in all, they feel less valued.

Read the whole article here.

If your job isn’t what you want it to be then speak up. Try to give feedback to your manager and see how they respond. You probably don’t want to start off with outrageous demands of running the department, but you could start by asking for a job that you’ve been wanting to do for a while. It never hurts to ask.

I have a friend who loves to help her co-workers out when her work is slow. She stops by their desks and asks if they can give her a little something to lighten their work load.

You should see their face when she asks to help them. They just light up.

One might worry that this would be an invitation for people to dump all their work on her, but no one ever does that. They usually give her something really easy and she is able to help a couple of people in the office with their work.

Has a co-worker ever asked to help you with your work? How did you respond?

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Jason Garrett spoke to a group of 200 at a formal dinner and his soft demeanor caught me off guard. I was expecting a tough football voice. It was a welcomed difference. It came across as humbling, not weak. He spoke well, with a slight tinge of enthusiasm.

The new guard, as I like to call it, seems to be popular throughout the football league. These forward thinking coaches use many techniques to will their players to their best. Tony Dungy is at the forefront of this movement. He believes that you don’t need to yell and scream to get your point across. Football players are people who want to be treated with respect and kindness.

Jason Garrett’s 8 lessons of leadership:

1. He talked about coaching Terrell Owens, a future Hall of Fame receiver, who is known to be a difficult player. He said that he told him (a Hall of Fame receiver) and the rest of the team that no matter who was on the field they would be coached.

Lesson – Learn from everyone around you because there is always something to improve.

2. Give people purpose. Tell people their role and recognize them for their work.

Lesson – We all need to feel appreciated.

3. When I’m on the field and my team is exhausted I go out there and become a cheerleader. I let them know whether they have cool shoes or if they are doing a good job working their butt off.

Lesson – Create a positive atmosphere by being a cheerleader when someone is having a bad day.

4. Success is 54% body language, 40% tone of voice, and 6% words. I don’t know how Jimmy Johnson got those numbers, but it explains why he was able to create such a passionate team. When he spoke to us he got us excited and ready to win.

Lesson – Use your body and voice to convey confidence.

5. Even if you think they are dragging their feet and breathing hard, you can always tell them that oxygen is good for the soul, so keep up the good work.

Lesson – Someone is always doing something right. Recognize that and give them positive feedback.

6. When looking to bring someone new on to your team make sure you look at his character. You can’t teach character, but you can teach competency

Lesson – Hire motivated people.

7. Nick Saban the great college coach always told us, “Tell me when we are making a mistake, so we can fix it.” Every time I or one of the other coaches told him something that we were doing wrong, he would bite our heads off. (laughing) It was always one of the most uncomfortable moments to be in.

Lesson – Make sure you follow your own advice otherwise no one will be willing to help you.

8. Tony Romo (Quarterback for Dallas) told me that he wanted to run a “Three wide split.” I thought to myself that is the stupidest play. Their defense is perfectly designed to stop that. I wasn’t sure what to call because it was something like 3^rd and 20, so I called it. Tony looked back at me and I could tell he was smiling. The throw went to Owens and he scored a touchdown.

Lesson - Let people do what they think is right because they’ll make it happen.

My co-worker wasn’t as enthused by the football references, but as Jason continued to speak he won her over. She was impressed by his talk. We can learn about working happy from anyone if we just take a moment to listen and put their words into action.

Does anyone have any good sports references that can be applied to working happier?

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The Smurfs are great role models because they understood how to work happy. They had many great traits that every company would love to have.

1. They worked as a team

They knew that they couldn’t do it all alone, so they came together to fight off Gargamel (the bad guy who wanted to eat them). They gathered all their collective intelligence and got the job done.

2. Papa Smurf made quick decisions

Everyone would look to Papa Smurf to assess the situation and make a quick, but thoughtful decision. More CEOs should watch some Smurfs to see how Papa Smurf kept everyone calm. Wouldn’t it be cool to see Bill Gates or Larry Page watching the Smurfs before they left for work?

3. They always look on the bright side

The Smurfs always landed into trouble, like all good cartoons. They never thought that they couldn’t escape a situation, except for Brainy. He always thought they were doomed, but his negativity never rubbed off on the other Smurfs because they knew that they had to stay positive to get back to the village safely.

4. They laughed, sang and danced

They were always celebrating. This cool article about celebrating was written by Tom Volkar at Delightful Work. We need to celebrate our wins and flops. Yes our flops too, so we never forget the mistakes we made. Check out my post about creating a monthly fun plan to keep spirits high.

5. Every Smurf had his role, but was always willing to pitch in.

Every Smurf understood his/her strengths. Papa Smurf was the leader, Brainy was smart, and Handy was able to build anything, but no matter what they were involved in - they were never afraid to chip in and help each other to get the job done.

Next time you are stuck in a difficult situation ask yourself, “What would Papa Smurf do?”

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